Important Deadlines for School Boards & Districts
JANUARY
Adopt a schedule of regular board meetings and make available to the public. KRS 61.820
The local board must examine, in an open meeting, detailed line item estimated revenues and proposed expenditures for the subsequent fiscal year on or before January 31. KRS 160.470(6)(a)
FEBRUARY
Superintendent may begin to appoint employees for the coming school year any time after February 1. KRS 160.380(2)(a)
MARCH
Each local board shall provide each school council notice of a tentative staffing and budget allocation for the coming fiscal year. 702 KAR 3:246 Section 2
APRIL
Note: The 2008 General Assembly changed the nonrenewal dates for classified and certified employees. These dates were changed from April 15 to May 15 (see below). The May 15 nonrenewal dates took effect in 2008 and will remain in force unless and until the legislature takes further action.
MAY
Each local board shall provide each school council notice of an updated staffing and budget allocation for the coming fiscal year by May 1. 702 KAR 3:246 Section 2.
No later than May 15, the superintendent must present written notice of nonrenewal to each limited-contract certified employee whose contract will not be renewed for the following school year. KRS 161.750(2)
No later than May 15, the superintendent is to mail or provide written notice of nonrenewal to each classified employee whose contract will not be renewed for the following year. KRS 161.011
On or before May 30, each board must adopt a tentative working budget. KRS 160.470(6)(a)
Note: See “other personnel dates”, below, for reductions in responsibility/corresponding reductions in pay and certified demotions, which must be done by May 15 or ninety days before the first attendance day, whichever is earliest.
JUNE
Within 60 (sixty) days after the close of the fiscal year the district must publish the district’s complete annual financial statement. KRS 424.220 requires this statement to be published in a newspaper qualified under KRS 424.120. HB 1 (the Budget Bill, p. 37) provides, however, that this publication may be done in a qualified newspaper, electronically on the Internet, or by printed copy at a prearranged site at the main branch of the public library within the district. If either of the latter two options is chosen, the district must publish a notification in a qualified newspaper as to the location (address of library or web address) where the document may be viewed. It should be noted that the internet and library options, by virtue of being included in HB 1, will expire June 30, 2012 unless included in subsequent legislation. In addition, at the same time publication of financial statements is due (within 60 days after June 30) the district shall have available a factual list of individual salaries for public scrutiny and shall furnish the list by mail to a newspaper qualified under KRS 424.120. KRS 424.220
Limited-contract teachers who were renewed for the coming school year are assumed to have accepted the contract unless they provide written notification to the superintendent indicating they do not accept employment on or before June 15. KRS 161.750(3)
School year and fiscal year end on June 30. KRS 158.050; KRS 160.450
JULY
New school year and fiscal year begin July 1. KRS 158.050; KRS 160.450
District to submit annual financial report to Department of Education, Division of School District Finance, by July 25. 702 KAR 3:110
AUGUST
Annual amendments to board of policies to be filed August 15. KRS 160.340(4)
SEPTEMBER
Rank and experience of teachers to be determined and P.S.D. form to be completed on September 15. KRS 157.390(2)
For purposes of state salary schedule only as referenced in KRS 158.070, teacher’s rank shall be determined on September 15. KRS 161.1211(3)
Adjustments to staffing allocation to school councils due to increases or decreases in enrollment must be provided to councils by September 15. 702 KAR 3:246 Section 4(6)
Each board must submit to State Board of Education a working budget no later than September 30. KRS 160.470(6)(b); 702 KAR 3:110 Section 1
OCTOBER
P.S.D. forms to be filed with the Department of Education prior to October 1 of each school year. 702 KAR 3:100
NOTE: None in November or December
Other personnel dates
The superintendent must give notice to each teacher employed for the coming school year of the “best estimate” of the salary to be paid the teacher for that year. The notice must be provided no later than forty-five (45) days before the first student attendance day or June 15, whichever occurs earlier. KRS 161.760
A teacher who refuses assignment must notify the superintendent in writing no later than thirty (30) days before the first student attendance day. KRS 161.760(1)
Transfers or changes in appointment of teachers are limited to those grounds permitted by statute, if later than thirty (30) days before the first student attendance day. KRS 161.760(2)
The superintendent must provide written notification to extra duty certified employees or administrators with less than three (3) years’ experience who are to be demoted of a reduction in responsibility accompanied by a corresponding reduction in salary no later than ninety (90) days before the first student attendance day or May 15, whichever occurs earlier. KRS 161.760(3)
Administrators with greater than three (3) years’ experience should be notified of demotion under KRS 161.765 no later than ninety (90) days before the first student attendance day or May 15, whichever occurs earlier. KRS 161.765(2), KRS 161.760(3). If the administrator files a statement of intent to contest within ten (10) days of receipt of the notice of demotion, the detailed procedures set out in KRS 161.765 must be consulted.
And a few more: policy, practice and process
There are additional requirements and needs of local boards which require attention but are not pegged to a specific date. The following list will give board members and superintendents a few items to consider as they plan the year’s activities.
The list of dates presented above contains many deadlines or dates by which action must be taken or concluded. Equally important is when the process must begin locally to insure that the deadline is met. A district must have some method of triggering a local process that will allow the district adequate time to meet the deadlines. That method may be a district policy or procedure, or it may be that an individual has been given the specific responsibility to prepare required documents. In any event, does the district have in place a method for initiating the required processes in a timely manner?
When the general budget of the district is finalized, the budget shall be published. KRS 424.250
Statutes permit a local board to require each school to make an annual report to the local board, at a public meeting, describing the school’s progress in meeting state educational goals and district educational goals set by the local board. Will the local board require the report and, if so, when will it take place? KRS 160.340(3)
Does the local board have a process to regularly receive, review and discuss information on the effectiveness of district finances, operations, and programs, and the level of educational progress achieved by the community’s children? How frequently do these reviews occur and are they sufficient for the board to effectively fulfill its responsibilities to the community and state?
The local board must evaluate the performance of the district superintendent annually. When will the board begin and complete that process? KRS 156.557; 704 KAR 3:345 Section (4).
Biennially each local board must review in a public meeting that part of each school’s consolidated plan that addresses how the school intends to reduce the achievement gap among various groups of students. KRS 160.340. See also KRS 158.649(4) (Superintendent and SBDM council or principal in non-SBDM schools to agree on biennial targets for eliminating any achievement gaps. Schools to set targets by February 1 in odd numbered years).